Not only can stuttering cause anxiety and frustration for a child, but it can also lead to teasing or bullying. This creates a snowball effect which often makes the stuttering worsen. When a child is taunted because of his/ her speech patterns, often s/he will become more reluctant to speak. This can affect life at home and school, the social and academic facets which are such an integral part of a childs life.

SYMPTOMS

A disturbance in the normal fluency and time patterning of speech (inappropriate for the individual's age), characterized by frequent occurrences of one or more of the following:

	sound and syllable repetitions
	sound prolongations
	interjections
	broken words (e.g., puases with a word)
	audible or silent blocking (filled or unfilled pauses in speech
	circumlocutions (word substitutions to avoid problematic words)
	words produced with an excess of physical tension
	monosyllabic whole-word repetitions (e.g., "I-I-I-I see him")

The disturbance in fluency interferes with academic or occupational achievement or with social communication.

If a speech-motor or sensory deficit is present, the speech difficulties are in excess of those usually associated with these problems.

How To Move Beyond The Problem

90% of stuttering issues are the result of a core trauma. Often this is something fairly simple although its traumatic for the child when it occurs. Generally regression therapy can neutralize the moment so it looses its negative charge and the trauma releases.

In the meantime, stuttering has become a habit. Once the cause is removed, you can teach the child a new habit. I like to use breathing, self-awareness and role-playing to help solidify the change in speech patterns.